Tentacles

by Roland Smith

  “Dr. Wolfe didn’t say.”

  “And he didn’t mention how they were going to catch it?”

  Dr. Lepod shook his head. “They’re still playing that hand close to their chest. All he said was that I should try to get plenty of sleep and be ready if they brought one in. If they succeed, it will be the catch of the century.”

  You wouldn’t be saying that if you knew what they had up in Lab Nine, Butch thought. He faked a yawn.

  “If you’re going to be busy, I’m going to be busy,” Butch said. “I better try to get some sleep myself.”

  “Of course,” Lepod said.

  As soon as Lepod left, Butch unclipped Roy’s radio from his belt. It was identical to the radios Noah Blackwood and half the military forces around the world used, but it would only work if Blackwood’s encrypted signal was the same as it had been two months ago.

  “And if I can remember the nine-digit code correctly … ,” Butch said out loud.

  He wrote down the current code. He would need it in a few hours so he could monitor what was going on. Then he counted out how many people on board had encrypted radios. It was important to know because it was the only communication that he wouldn’t be able to disrupt. Al, Joe, Wolfe, Bertha, Phil, probably Cap, and maybe even that reporter, Ana. There was probably another one in Lab Nine. He was sure that Al and Joe knew about the hatchlings. And they could talk on those Gizmos, too. There were another three or four of those.

  Too many ways to stay in touch, Butch thought. I’ll need to do something about that. But first I need to talk to Blackwood.

  After several tries Butch finally picked up some chatter. He listened for a few moments and was pleased to realize that he recognized some of the people talking. Normally, Butch worked alone and preferred it that way. But playing Dr. O’Connor was getting on his nerves. He missed being Butch McCall.

  He keyed the mic. “This is Butch.”

  “As in Butch McCall?”

  “That’s right, Pepper. As in the guy who’s doing all your work for you.”

  “We’re deeply appreciative of all your effort, mate,” Pepper said sarcastically. “We saw a self-portrait of you tonight with hair on your head. You need to lose it and grow that ’stache back. With that white lab coat and the retro glasses you’re geek-ugly, man.”

  Butch now remembered why he liked to work alone.

  “Patch me over to the old man on a scrambled line.”

  “Right,” Pepper said. “Make sure you have that green armband on tomorrow.”

  “Yeah,” Butch said. “You, too.”

  There was a burst of static and clicks, then Noah Blackwood came on the line.

  “Butch?”

  “Are we secure?” Butch asked.

  “On this end, but I’m more worried about your end.”

  “I lifted a secure radio from one of Al’s men. He’s not going to miss it.”

  “If you’d thought of that earlier, perhaps you wouldn’t have had to throw Mitch over the side,” Blackwood said.

  “The opportunity didn’t present itself until recently, and I would have tossed Mitch anyway. He was worthless and I didn’t trust him.”

  This was followed by a long silence, which made Butch nervous.

  “I don’t trust him, either,” Blackwood finally said.

  Butch breathed a sigh of relief.

  “He is a good swimmer, though,” Blackwood continued, in an uncharacteristically chatty way. “And according to Mitch, he’s very good with his hands. He was quite concerned about what was going to happen to him now that he’s no longer a member of the eWolfe team. I told him that I have a perfect position for him in the basement with Henrico, so that problem is taken care of.”

  Ouch, Butch thought. And Mitch is someone who helped Blackwood. Careful, he told himself. Remember who’s on the scrambled line.

  “I’m just checking in to let you know I have a radio, so I won’t be using the flare,” Butch said. “When I have the package, I’ll give you a shout.”

  “Excellent! Do you have any idea on the time?”

  “Early, I think, and I have everything in place here. I’d have Pepper and his men on their way before light, which means the others need to be ready, too.”

  “They’ll be ready,” Blackwood assured him.

  “Another thing,” Butch said. “Tell Pepper that the Moon Pool doors will be wide open, so he shouldn’t have any problem there.”

  “Do you have any more information on their plans for catching the giant squid?”

  “Negative,” Butch said. “And that has me a little concerned. I don’t think they’re using the dolphins to catch the giant squid. They changed the code to the Moon Pool for a while tonight. The only reason they would do that is because there is something in there they don’t want people to see. They haven’t even told the squid doctor what’s going on. You’d think they would tell the world’s authority on giant squid what their plans are.”

  “That is curious,” Blackwood said. “But it shouldn’t affect our plans. Bringing in a giant squid would be nice, but it’s a distant third to our two primary targets. When this is all over, I’m going to pay a visit to Ted Bronson on Cryptos, or have you go fetch him. He’ll tell us what the plans were and we’ll go out and capture our own giant squid.”

  Butch looked forward to fetching Ted Bronson.

  “A couple of other things,” Butch said. “They’re shorthanded here, but you need to tell Pepper and the other guys not to let their guard down. The handful of people they have are pros and highly motivated. They could even the odds very quickly and turn this to their advantage.”

  “I already warned him,” Blackwood said. “But I’ll do it again.”

  “And finally, that reporter, or whoever she is, is going by the name Ana,” Butch said. “She seems to have full access to everything, including the Moon Pool and probably Lab Nine. I also think she’s in on the plans to catch the squid.”

  “Ana Mika,” Blackwood said harshly. “She’s an investigative journalist and an old friend of the Cryptos gang. I’m glad she’s on board, because she’s going down with everyone else. Make sure of it.”

  “No problem,” Butch said.

  * * *

  Marty was sound asleep when he felt someone (or something) shaking his shoulder. It was Theo.

  “Rise and shine, aquanaut,” he whispered.

  Marty sat up, rubbed the sleep out of his tired eyes, and looked around the cabin groggily.

  Luther was sitting in an uncomfortable chair with his head thrown back, his mouth wide open, snoring in soprano. The Gizmo was sticking out of his shirt pocket. PD was in his lap with her tiny paws over her ears. Grace’s door was closed to help block out Luther’s high-pitched snores.

  Marty swung his feet to the floor.

  “You don’t have to whisper,” he said. “Luther and I have been roommates since we were kindergartners. You have to hurt him physically to wake him up.”

  “How do you sleep with that noise coming out of his mouth?”

  “Weird, isn’t it?” Marty stood and stretched. “You get used to it — after about five years.”

  “How did he do with the dragonspy?”

  “He was better with it than I was when I started, and he was still flying it when I fell asleep, which means he’s probably better than I am now.”

  Marty pulled on a pair of cargo shorts and stepped into a pair of sneakers. “I’ll wake him up.”

  “Let him sleep,” Theo said. “We have at least an hour of prep before we launch. Bertha will bring him and Grace down before we take off.”

  Ana was outside in the hallway talking to Bertha.

  Bertha looked at Marty. “For what it’s worth,” she said. “I was, and I still am, totally one hundred percent against you being turned into squid bait.”

  “And good morning to you, Bertha!” Marty said. “Thanks for planting that in my brain, but I don’t think this is any worse than being pushed over a railing by Butch McC
all.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Ana said, frowning at Theo. “Ted Bronson comes up with a lot of harebrained schemes, then talks people into joining him on his death wish.”

  Ana was dressed more casually than she had been the night before, but not by much. She was wearing designer jeans, a cashmere sweater, and about half a pound of gold jewelry.

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Theo said to her. “Ted’s intelligence is way overestimated, in my opinion. To him, people are nothing more than human guinea pigs. If the authorities knew half the things he’s done in his life, he’d be sitting in a prison cell.”

  “Well put, Theo,” Ana said. “You should pass that on to Ted.”

  “I will.”

  Ana looked at Marty. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “Yeah,” Marty said.

  “Your funeral,” Theo said, smiling at the still disapproving Bertha. “Here’s the plan. We’ll be ready to launch in about an hour. After they see us off, Ana and Grace will relieve Laurel in Lab Nine.”

  “Where’s Phil?” Bertha asked.

  “He’s down at the Moon Pool, but he spent most of the night in Lab Nine helping Laurel rebuild the pens.”

  “What about Luther?” Marty asked.

  “Wolfe said that he’ll keep Luther with him down at the Moon Pool for the time being. And I’m afraid there’s been some bad news.”

  “What?” Bertha asked.

  “Roy is missing. He didn’t report for his shift. Joe checked his cabin. His bunk hadn’t been slept in, and he isn’t answering his radio.”

  “Butch is still aboard,” Bertha said.

  “I think you’re right,” Theo agreed.

  “Why wasn’t I told?” Bertha asked.

  “Because they just discovered Roy was missing,” Theo answered. “Al and Joe and a few of the crew are scouring the ship for him right now. If Roy is dead, whoever killed him got his gun and his radio. Al changed the code.” He handed her a slip of paper. “Here’s the new one. If Butch got Roy, he probably already overheard an earful in the last few hours.”

  Bertha punched the new code into her radio.

  “Wolfe wants everyone to stay in groups of at least two,” Theo continued. “Whether it’s Butch McCall or someone else, we are all vulnerable. Roy was a very tough guy. Whoever got him was tougher.”

  * * *

  “I guess that does it, Yvonne,” Wolfe said. “I appreciate your help.”

  They had just strapped the last camera on one of the three dolphins and were watching them circle the smaller holding pool.

  “Do you want me to open the gate and let them into the big pool?” Yvonne asked.

  “No, I’ll do it later,” Wolfe said. “Why don’t you go to the mess and get some breakfast? Your work down here is finished. It’s up to the dolphins now.”

  “I’d rather stay,” Yvonne said. “I’m pretty fond of Winkin, Blinkin, and Nod, and I’d like to follow this through.”

  “I know,” Wolfe said. “And I’m sorry, but you can’t. There are some components of this capture that we would like to keep quiet. You’ve been great, Yvonne, but the truth is that we just don’t know you very well.”

  “Meaning you don’t trust me.”

  “Actually, I do trust you,” Wolfe said. “I wouldn’t have hired you to prep the dolphins otherwise. But there are degrees of trust, and you’re just not there yet. You only come to Cryptos once or twice a year, and most of the time that you’re there, I’m gone.”

  “Maybe you should hire me full-time,” Yvonne said. “Then you’d see that I’m trustworthy.”

  “You’d come work for us full-time?”

  “I love Cryptos Island and I would love to settle down there. I’m tired of traveling all over the world training other people’s marine mammals. Make me an offer.”

  “I will,” Wolfe said, ushering her to the door. “As soon as this is over and we’re back on the island.”

  “I take that to mean I’m supposed to go now,” Yvonne said.

  “I’m afraid so, but I’m serious about talking to you about coming to work for us.”

  Yvonne gave Wolfe a sweet smile and exited through the sliding doors.

  As soon as she was gone the control room door slid open and Phil stepped out.

  “The dolphin vids are crystal clear,” Phil said.

  Wolfe nodded. “Did they find Roy?”

  Phil shook his head. “I just talked to Al. He and Joe are still searching, but they’re not hopeful.”

  Ana, Theo, and Marty walked through the sliding doors and joined them.

  “It’s hard to believe that Butch got the drop on him,” Phil continued.

  “You’re talking about Roy,” Ana said.

  “He was a good man,” Theo said. “I guess we should have listened to Al and put more security on board.”

  “Maybe they’ll find him,” Marty said. He felt terrible about Roy.

  Theo shook his head. “I doubt it.” He started stripping out of his disguise. “You were lucky, Marty. Very lucky. And I’m sure Butch figured out you survived. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. If Butch threw Roy overboard, he waited to hear the splash.”

  Theo lay on the ground, with Ted Bronson standing above him wearing shorts and a T-shirt.

  “Maybe we should delay the launch until after we get this worked out,” Ted said.

  “I’m not sure what that would gain us,” Wolfe said. “We aren’t going to find Butch unless he wants us to find him. What we need to do is catch a giant squid and get out of here.”

  Ted looked at Ana. “You’ve talked to some of the crew. Any idea how Butch is pulling this off?”

  “Nothing concrete,” Ana said. “But if I had to guess, I’d say he’s posing as one of the scientists. They have no set hours, they have access to most of the ship, and no one questions what they’re doing because no one knows what the scientists are doing. And a lot of the scientists are working alone. The regular crew members know each other and would recognize a stranger.”

  “It’s hard to believe that Butch could pass himself off as a scientist,” Ted said.

  “Really?” Ana said. “Because I know a scientist who has passed himself off as a moron for years, and he’s never been caught.”

  “Good point,” Ted said. “It’s your call, Wolfe. If you want to delay, just say the word.”

  Wolfe thought about it for a long time, then shook his head and said, “I think we should launch. Delaying will just give Blackwood more time to hurt us.” He looked at Phil. “Bring the doctor down.”

  “Doctor?” Marty asked.

  “The third member of our crew,” Ted said.

  * * *

  Bertha went into Grace’s cabin to wake her but found that she was already up, sitting at her desk with Congo perched on her shoulder, her stuffed monkey in her lap, reading a Moleskine.

  “Don’t tell me you haven’t slept,” Bertha said.

  “I slept,” Grace said. “I’ve only been up an hour or so. I’m reading one of my mother’s journals.”

  “You might want to take it with you,” Bertha said. “Because you won’t be back here for a while. After we see your insane cousin off, you and Ana have dino duty. You might have to pull a double shift because we’re a bit short-staffed.”

  Grace sighed. “And they’re not getting any easier to take care of. In fact, they’re getting more aggressive, except toward Luther, which is very annoying.”

  Bertha laughed. “That’s one of the reasons we’re short-staffed. Wolfe is taking him out of the rotation for the next twenty-four hours. He thinks that part of their aggression toward you and the others is a reaction to not having Luther feed them. He watched several feeding videos and believes that they’ve imprinted on Luther. With him gone, they might calm down and imprint on you and the others. Laurel and Phil fed them three times last night. By the third feeding they were as calm as if Mother Luther were there.”

  “Did you tell Mother Luther th
is?”

  “Not yet. I’ll wake him up.”

  “Good luck,” Grace said. “Waking Luther is like waking Count Dracula at noon.”

  “Don’t you worry,” Bertha said. “I’ve rousted a lot of sleepyheaded troops.”

  But when Bertha saw Luther slouched in the chair with his head back as if his neck were broken and heard the inhuman sounds coming out of his mouth, her confidence stuttered. It seemed impossible that anyone could sleep in that position without experiencing permanent spinal damage.

  PD jumped out of Luther’s lap and dashed into Grace’s cabin. Congo began screaming and PD began barking so loudly that Bertha had to cover her ears.

  Luther did not move a muscle.

  “Stop it, both of you!” Grace shouted from her cabin. “You two need to learn to get along.”

  Congo and PD ignored her.

  Bertha gave Luther’s bony shoulder a rough shake, which had absolutely no effect.

  The shrieking and barking faded as PD and Congo headed off down the companionway.

  Grace stepped into Marty and Luther’s cabin. “No luck?”

  “What’s the matter with him?” Bertha asked.

  “Aside from being Luther Percival Smyth the Fourth, nothing,” Grace answered. “This sometimes works.” She had a pair of sharp scissors in her hand.

  “What are you going to do with those?”

  “I would love to cut off his hair as a joke,” Grace said. “Marty did that once, but it didn’t wake him up, and Luther’s hair was much longer back then. I’m just going to give him a little prick. That usually does the trick.” She grabbed his hand and gave it a quick jab.

  Luther’s eyes snapped open. “Morning, Bertha! Hey, Grace.”

  “That is one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen,” Bertha said.

  “My hair?” Luther said, seemingly unaware that he had just been stabbed in the hand. “Give me a break, Bertha. I just woke up. Let me at least give it a brush before you start criticizing it.”

  “I wasn’t talking about your hair,” Bertha said. “I was talking about how you sleep and what Grace had to do to wake you up.”

  He jumped up and cracked the kink out of his neck, then noticed the spot of blood on his hand.